Tag: nigeria

Africa (Conversation) – Africa is known for its rich biodiversity. On a continent where people depend on this biodiversity for their daily livelihood, the question of how animals and plants that live on it will be protected, remains crucial. A…

Mexico (Sputnik) – A new global survey has named Mexico the second deadliest area in the world after Syria, due to the Central American nation’s violent ongoing drug war. Syria’s six-year war came in first for most dangerous conflict for the fifth consecutive year,…

Nigeria (Tasnim) – Nigeria is in talks to release the remaining captive Chibok girls, its president said Thursday, a day before the third anniversary of the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls by radical insurgents Boko Haram. The kidnapping is one of the…

Libya (NFA) – Hundreds of migrants along North African migrant routes are being bought and sold openly in modern day ‘slave markets’ in Libya, survivors have told the United Nations migration agency, which warned that these reports “can be added to…

India (NI) – Hitting Indian headlines right now are stories that fill all decent Indians with sadness and shame. Periodically, recently, we’ve had ugly racist attacks on people ‘not like us’. We’ve always had caste-based prejudice and communal clashes (read: Hindu-Muslim…

Lagos, Nigeria (GPA) – Some 4,700 people have been forcibly evicted from the fishing community of Otodo Gbame in the city of Lagos, Nigeria by police and government forces, according to Al-Jazeera, whose video report can be found below. The eviction seems…

World (Tasnim) – The United Nations is warning that the world is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the end of World War II, with more than 20 million people facing starvation and famine in four countries. The world body’s humanitarian…

Africa (NFA) – Almost 1.4 million children are at imminent risk of death from severe acute malnutrition this year, as famine looms in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, UNICEF said today. “Time is running out for more than a million…

Nigeria (Tasnim) – More than 100 people have been killed and aid workers wounded after Nigerian military mistakenly bombed a refugee camp. A military official confirmed an Air Force fighter jet on a mission against Boko Haram extremists mistakenly attacked the…

China (Sputnik) – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called on African countries to take part in the “One belt, One road” initiative, stressing that Africa had historically been a part of the Silk road economic belt, as well as of…

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari announced Saturday that the last refuge of the African terrorist organization and Islamic State affiliate Boko Haram has fallen to Nigerian troops.

The remnants of the terrorist organization were surrounded over the weekend in their final refuge, “camp zero” in the Sambisa forest in northern Nigeria. President Buhari congratulated the troops on a “long awaited” victory and the “final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists in their last enclave.”

Although this news means that Boko Haram has lost out on the area of land they held, it is probably not necessarily the end of their dangerous ideology. Much like the Islamic State organization that Boko Haram leaders pledged allegiance to in 2015; taking their physical territory may just prove to make the group turn to more violent tactics of insurgency.

From historic convictions to impunity for gang rapes, 2016 has been a year of highs and lows when it comes to efforts to stem violence against women.

The annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (November 25-December 10) are a time to take stock of progress and failings in combatting this pervasive human rights abuse.

In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) reached its first conviction for sexual violence. It found a former Democratic Republic of Congo vice president, Jean-Pierre Bemba, guilty of rape, murder, and pillage in neighbouring Central African Republic. Bemba was found guilty under the concept of “command responsibility,” in which civilian and military superiors can be held criminally liable for crimes committed by troops under their control.

Warning that ongoing unrest and rising inflation have left more than five million people in restive north-east Nigeria facing acute food insecurity, the United Nations agriculture agency today appealed for $25 million through May 2017 to support irrigated vegetable production and micro-gardening in the dry season, as well as rebuild livestock systems.

In a situation update, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said the urgently needed funds would tackle food insecurity among returnee, internally displaced and host communities. In addition, the agency is seeking funds now to provide critical agricultural inputs to farmers in time for the 2017 main rainy season.

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